[spacefight]

They might not have had a serious A-bomb program, but they sure had lots of interesting scientific researchers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip

"By 1947 this evacuation operation had netted an estimated 1,800 technicians and scientists, along with 3,700 family members. Those with special skills or knowledge were taken to detention and interrogation centers, such as one code-named DUSTBIN,[16] to be held and interrogated, in some cases for months."

[benzofuran]

They definitely had a huge number of interesting researchers - however the support, lack of collaboration, and decentralization of those researchers prevented them from making significant headway in the understanding of nuclear fission and related processes.